Never trust a Redhead
by Madhatter1981
Summary: Dean goes looking for Ginny after 'The Battle of Hogwarts' what he finds changes the future of the Weasleys a bit.


**Never Trust a Female Weasley**

 **A/N** **:** Don't own, don't get any compensation, just for fun.

Dean Thomas was searching for his wayward girlfriend; Ginny Weasley. He and Ginny had gotten back together this past year during the Death Eater rein here at Hogwarts. When Dean asked Ginny about Harry Potter, her previous boyfriend and reputed 'savior' of the wizarding world who was conspicuously absent from Hogwarts this year, Ginny informed Dean that due to the mounting threat of You-Know-Who and his Death Eaters and their nearly pathological obsession with killing Harry, as well as Harry mission that he, Ron and Hermione were on, that she and Harry had decided that it was too dangerous for them to be in a relationship. Dean found Harry's nobility honorable and took up with Ginny again, this turn out to be a poor decision on his part.

As Dean came to a closet just off of The Room of Requirement he heard a familiar giggle, a giggle he thought was for him and him alone. With a sinking heart, Dean turn to the closet and opened the door. What he saw inside caused his heart to break and sink into his shoes.

There was Ginny Weasley; the women he loved, the women he had been thinking of proposing to, in an embrace with her former boyfriend, Harry Potter going hot and heavy. Her blouse was open to the top of her bra (something she never did when she was with him, either time) and her skirt was pushed up around her hips as she had her legs wrapped around Harry's waist who appeared to have his hand buried under Ginny's skirt, cupping her arse. The duo appeared to be grinding their crotches together with total abandon. Their mouths were mashed together as they sloppily kissed while groping each other.

Feeling sick Dean cleared his throat, when that did work he cast _Sonorous_ on himself.

" _ **Excuses me!"**_ Dean's charmed voice reverberated inside the small closet that Harry and Ginny had sequestered themselves in, rattling around the small space, discombobulating them. Turning to see who it was the interrupted them Harry and Ginny's indignant facial expression took on a radical change.

Ginny, upon seeing Dean standing in the door way; went white to the point that her freckles' which Dean had loved to kiss, stood out in stark relief. Her legs wobble and thankfully unhooked themselves from Harry's waist, causing her skirt to cover her arse, as she slid down the wizard's torso. This caused Harry's hand's to thankfully fall away from her body, letting Ginny land on the floor in a heap. As Ginny fought with her blouse, Dean noticed that one of her nipples had started to come out of her bra, Dean was momentarily angry that Harry, who had been with Ginny for a shorter amount of time them him, had gotten farther than he had with the girl.

Harry meanwhile had a look on his face like the penny was finally dropping. Looking between the two other people, Harry did the best to discreetly adjust himself without call to much attention to the state he was in, unfortunately he failed. The disgusted look that Dean shot him had Harry embarrassed for a few seconds, before he started to wonder why Dean would have a reason to act injured. Ginny told him that she stayed faithful to him during the time that he was away on his quest, and the map had confirmed it.

What Harry didn't know was that the twins spent a good deal of time together with Sirius and Remus in the summer before Harry's fifth year, hearing stories about the Maruaders time at Hogwarts. Waiting to learn the fate of Harry's being thrown out of the wizarding world due to using a Patronus in front of his in the know cousin, the twins and Sirius were too distracting to do any cleaning, no matter how much Molly screamed and belittled them.

One day, Ginny had followed Fred and George when they got away from Molly and went to visit Sirius and Remus. During their discussion Remus, carried away by the awe and adulation the twins and Ginny were giving him, Sirius and Posthumously James, had also divulged to her and the twins how the Marauder's had modify the Map in case it got into enemy hands, who subsequently learned or guessed the passphrase to be able to stay hidden and still be able to prank. Using this knowledge Ginny; when she was saying goodbye to Harry before he, Ron and Hermione left; tweaked the map so that it wouldn't show her dalliances with other wizards while she was at Hogwarts for her sixth year, instead making it look like she was pious waiting for Harry's return.

Dean, not wanting to believe that Ginny had been unfaithful to him again, and thinking that Harry had used magic to get Ginny to go off with him, tried to hex The-Man-Who-Had-Defeated-you-know-Who (and was Harry mad when he first read his new title in The Daily Prophet). To his surprise it was Ginny who cast _Protego_ , (Shield spell) defended Harry from the attack. Now believing that Harry was using compulsion charms to get Ginny to go along with cheating on him tried to talk Ginny out of Harry's control.

"Gin, don't worry. We'll get you to Madame Pomfery, you'll be back to your old self in no time and we'll have Potter arrested for assaulting you." Dean said calmly, holding his hand out to his girlfriend. Ginny reaction to this surprised him.

"Why, do you have to ruin everything, Dean?! Sure, it was fun this year, but now that Harry's back you really thought we were going to say together when I have the hero of the wizarding world at my disposal. I guess it's true what they say about the lesser intelligence of muggleborns, Hermione must have been a pure or half-blood adopted by a pair of muggles at a young enough age not to remember it. Just leave me alone Dean, or I'll tell my brothers that you took advantage of me and used the _Imperius Curse_ to get us back together, and Harry will back me up." Ginny finished triumphantly, not seeing the look on Harry face that spoke to just the opposite of this statement. Seeing this, Dean gave a fraternal node to Harry and left to find Seamus and talk about the dangers that were women.

Ginny smiled, now that she'd dealt with Dean, there was nothing in her way of being 'Mrs. Ginny Potter' and using the Potter fortune to lift her family out of the poverty they'd unfortunately allowed themselves to descended to. Turning back to Harry, Ginny was brought up short by the dark look on the Hero of the Wizarding World. Opening up her mouth, not sure what she was going to say to set this right, Ginny attempt to salvage the situation was cut off by Harry.

"Do you know what kept my going this long year, away from everyone but Hermione, without enough food, never knowing if I was going to survive to see the next day? The thought that you were here waiting for me. I didn't ever think to comfort Hermione, after Ron pulled his shit and left us, due to not wanting you to think that I was tempted to cheat on you while I was away. Turns out I shouldn't have bothered given that you clearly didn't have the same consideration for me while I was away." Disgustedly Harry turn around and started to follow in the wake of Dean, Ginny calling out stopped him momentarily.

"Harry, I love you, surely were can make this work. It was just a little mistake, it didn't mean anything." Ginny pleaded.

Harry was tempted to believe Ginny, being without any form of affection growing up with the Dursley's made him latch onto anyone that showed him the least amount of it. As he thought about forgiving Ginny for her transgressions, the memory of the look on Luna's face last year when she found out that he was going out with Ginny, made Harry realize that Ginny wasn't the only witch that he could spend his life with. Continuing his walk out of the room, Harry replied to the redhead.

"I want someone who loves me for of me, not any fame that I may or may not have. Someone who would miss me when I was gone, as much as I'd miss them. You clearly are not that person. I will be speaking to your family soon, so there is no misunderstanding about our break up. I wish your relationship with Dean every happiness. Now if you excuse me I need to offer condolences to your family over Fred's death" Harry said as he walked out the door, to go do what he said he was planning to do.

Ginny was furious, this was not what was supposed to happen. It had been just a bit of harmless fun while Harry was away dealing with Tom, she was human and she had needs, it didn't mean that she didn't want to be in a relationship with the-boy-who-lived, why couldn't Harry see that. Turning around to hex Dean, who had come back to vent his spleen at her some more, for ruining everything Ginny was frozen in place as the wizard, realizing her intentions hit her with a _Petrificus Totalus_. As he turned to follow Harry without looking at Ginny, Dean let her know how much she had hurt him.

"I really loved you Gin. I thought this infatuation with Potter had faded after he dumped you in sixth year and you came back to me this year. I see now, that I was deluding myself." For the first time since Dean had found Ginny and Harry together, he seemed vulnerable. "Did you know I was planning to propose to you, I'd owled my mum and she sent me the ring my father gave her, It's up in my trunk. Good thing this happened before you tainted it by looking at it. I'd wish you well but given what kind of person you've turned out to be I doubt you deserve it." With that Dean released his spell, turned and followed Harry.

Ginny fell to the floor and screamed with rage, how had things gone so wrong. Her mother had told her the summer before her fifth year that sometime just a love potion wasn't enough, so she had mixed in a jealously potion which seemed to work on Harry, at least for that year. With Harry being gone she felt, why should she deny herself the interests of the opposite sex, given how easy it had turn out to be to dupe both Harry and Dean, she was planning to continue after Harry made his triumphant comeback. This, however, was not how things were supposed to go. Briefly coming out of her pity party Ginny realized that Harry said that he was going to talk to the rest of her family. Paling with fright, Ginny thought of what sort of trouble The-Man-Who-Won could cause for her future if he chose to talk to the press about her. Getting up Ginny sprinted out of the room and made her way to The Great Hall.

As Ginny entered the Great Hall her heart sank as she saw both Harry and Dean standing in front of her father talking with him. Arthur Weasley's frown seemed to grow more pronounced the more he listened. Hoping to sneak out to go and plan how to put the best spin on this Ginny backed up towards the door, as she passed a table she heard someone call out to her.

Arthur Weasley, hearing someone call out to his daughter he was just talking about look up and his eyes focused on her. Ginny winced at the look in her father's eyes, they were unforgiving. Reluctantly Ginny trudged forward, shooting an unrepentant Luna Lovegood a glare for alerting Arthur of her attendance as she passed the blond.

Luna, hearing what her childhood 'friend' was going through felt nothing but disgust for the redhead. She had believed that Ginny was her friend, up until midway thru their fifth year, after Harry started going out with Ginny, without ending their relationship first. When Harry asked Luna out to Slughorn's first gathering of the 'Slug Club' in her fifth year, Luna had thought that she had finally found a person who understood her. The girl was crushed when she learned that Harry and Ginny were spotted snogging in an alcove after Gryffindor won the Quidditch Cup that year, she really thought that Harry was different, that Harry cared for her.

What neither Harry nor Luna realized was that their classes in Dumbldore's Army the year of Umbridge's occupation showed Ginny more than how to pass her DADA class that year. Seeing Harry being able to calmly and politely talked to witches other than her and Mione had caused Ginny to panic that her chance to get with Harry and 'acquire' the rumored Potter fortune, in order to save the Weasley from the poverty that they had sunk into, was quickly slipping through her fingers. Harry escorting Luna to Horace Slughorn's 'Slug Club' party just confirmed in Ginny's mind that the way she was trying to attract Harry's attention wasn't working and drastic steps needed to be taken.

Ginny was disappointed to have to slip Harry a potion, given the whole 'Potter's prefer redhead' myth that her mother fed her when she was young. An obvious fallacy, given that Harry paternal grandmother was a Black and none of them had ever been born with red hair (Narcissa was born an albino that the Black's covered up with cosmetic charms).

Having Dean on the side, while Harry was off completing his noble quest to rid the world of Tom's threat, was just sensible in Ginny's opinion. After all she was a young witch in her prime, it would look strange if, after being so cruelly dumped by the 'Chosen One' to mope around. Instead Ginny basically ran to Dean and told him of Harry cruel dismissal of her. The only problem with that was having to talk Dean down from going and confronting Harry, luckily Dean was easily distracted, something Ginny had much practice at. Ginny had felt some worry that Harry might be displeased to find her 'unpure' on their wedding night but had already planned to use the excuse of flying a broom to explain it away.

As she got closer to her father and 'boyfriends' the noise of her steps announced her before she said anything, causing her father to lift his head up from his discussion with Harry and Dean. Piercing Ginny with a sharper look than Ginny could ever remember her father ever using on her, Arthur opened his mouth and began to speak.

"Ginevra, it's good of you to join us, I've been told something's from Harry and Dean, I believe it was," glancing at the boy and seeing him node, Arthur continued. "that concerns me. Is it true that you told Harry at the end of last year that you would wait for him, when he went off on his quest?" Seeing his daughter's reluctant nod, Arthur grimaced, but continued. "And is it true that when you meet up with young Dean, here, on the train to Hogwarts this year you intimated that you and Harry were no longer together even though you left Harry with the impression that you'd wait for him?" At Ginny's second nod, Arthur sighed deeply before turning to Harry and Dean.

"Gentlemen, thank you for bringing this to my attention, I assure you that it will be dealt with appropriately. Harry, I want you to know that regardless of your relationship with Ginny I will always consider you one of my sons and hope that you stop in a visit whenever you have a chance." At this Harry who, having to deal with so much over the last couple of years, gave Arthur a teary hug and departed to see Hagrid. Smiling at the weight that seemed to be lifted from the lad that he considered his seventh son, Arthur turned to Dean.

"Dean, although I've haven't heard about you before now" here Dean subtly winced at the further proof of how little his relationship with Ginny meant to the girl, realizing that Arthur as he asked to be called was still talking, Dean refocused his attention, "by your actions you have shown yourself to be a noble and honorable young man, a tribute to your father." Seeing the puzzled look on Dean's face, Arthur realized that no one told him about the man that spawned him.

"Your father was a pureblood, the last of an old and noble family that could trace its lineage back to the times of Merlin." Arthur smiled at the look of wonder on the lad's face. It was only by happenstance that he knew what he was telling the boy, Arthur had been one of the members of the auror team that went to the Thomas residence when young Dean first started showing signs of accidental magic, were he had first meet the lad, as the family had been _Oblivated_ at the end of the encounter Dean had no memory of Arthur. His role had been as adviser, to keep the Auror from accidentally tripping up when they went out into the muggle world. This was a common responsibility of the members of the misuse of muggle artifact office, being that the office was the only area in the ministry that had any idea of how the muggle's acted.

Dean couldn't have been more shocked than if Voldemort had come back from the dead that very moment. His father had been a wizard, maybe that's why he'd left him and his mother, it was the only way to protect them. Keeping his emotions under control the best that he could, Dean opened his mouth. He was pleased that his voice came out more or less normal when he spoke, not showing the extent of his feelings.

"Would you mind if I came by your office some time to learn more about my father's family, _my family_ , if that's alright?" Dean asked politely, hoping against hope that his former relationship with the man's daughter wouldn't ruin his chance to learn about his father.

Arthur saw the look of longing in the lad's face and realized that Dean was just a boy looking for his own way in a world that, like Harry, he should have been brought up in to begin with. The mental comparison to Harry made Arthur's dislike of Dean started to fade slightly. Smiling at Dean, Arthur spoke.

"I would be happy to let you come by and learn about your father. Just send me an owl a few days before so that I have time to gather the information together for you." Shaking Arthur's hand Dean walked over to where Seamus was with a spring in his step. Watching Dean walk off, Arthur turned towards his daughter.

"When we get home you are to pack a bag in preparation to spend some time with your great aunt Muriel. It would appear that your mother has failed in her duties of bringing you up to act as a proper lady would." Ignoring the look of horror on his daughter's face, Arthur steered the two of them over to where the rest of the family was sitting in mourning over loosing Fred to Voldemort's forces.

Seeing Ginny looking miserable and Harry nowhere to be found to comfort her caused Molly to frown, momentarily being brought out of her sorrow over losing her Freddie, her children should be together in this trying time. Arthur shook his head at her questioning glance, joining the rest of his family in their mourning over their losses of friends and family to Voldemort and his forces.

Harry Potter walked the hallways of Hogwart, trying to stay out of everyone's way, the witches and wizards that he encountered wanted to congratulate him and shake his hand. Harry had lost track of the number of witches of all ages that had grabbed him and kissed him in gratitude. Quite frankly he was wondering, given what had happened since, if it would have been better to just have gotten on the train when he was in death's incorporeal station instead of coming back, he would at least be with his parents Sirus, Remus and Tonks right now, with people that love him.

As Harry's mind filled with morbid thoughts about his parents and their friends a noise brought him out of his depressing thoughts. Looking around Harry noticed the door to a never used classroom a bit further up on the left of the hallway was partly open and the sound of crying seemed to be coming softly out of it.

Walking up to the door, Harry gently pushed it open, what he saw inside shocked him; Luna Lovegood, who he had escorted to Horace Slughorn's Slug Club before deserting her to chase pointlessly after Draco Malfoy, who had tried to crash, when he was in Sixth Year, was sitting on the floor sobbing. Quickly, Harry rushed over to Luna and knelt down next to her and gently placed a hand on her shoulder.

Feeling the slight pressure on her shoulder, Luna look up in surprise and a slight amount of fear to see who had interrupted her solitude. She was shocked to see Harry Potter; The-Man-Who-Won and as far as she was aware, Ginny's boyfriend and future husband. See Harry looking at her with such care in his eyes prompted Luna to speak.

"Harry what are you doing here, why aren't you off celebrating with Ginny?" Luna asked, with a hint of distaste as she said her neighbor's name.

Harry looked at Luna and seeing the slight hatred in the girl's eyes cut him to the quick. Thinking about it, Harry realized that given the way he treated Luna after asking her to go to Slughorn's party and then ignoring her after it was really rotten. Why should he expect her to be sympathetic to his plight about what Ginny was doing to him when he did something similar to her less than two years ago? Still, she did ask, thinking that Harry started to unburden himself to Luna.

"I was celebrating the destruction of Voldemort with Ginny," Seeing Luna start to get up in preparation to leave Harry put his hand out. "Please, I'm not telling you this to upset you, there's a point to this beginning."

Luna stared at Harry for enough time to make the boy nervously pull at his collar, before she warily nodded and sat down across from him and indicated that he should continue his story. Harry cleared his throat and began to wearily speak again.

"Anyways Ginny and I were celebrating the destruction of Voldemort and the fact that we came out of it ok when Dean walked in on us. The first thing that Dean did upon seeing us was try to attack me, it seems that Ginny was hooking up with Dean while Hermione, Ron and I were off trying to defeat Voldemort and his Death Eater and almost dying regularly for our troubles." Saying this Harry sank to the ground.

"I really thought that Ginny loved me and was able to see through the whole 'Boy-who-lived/wizarding savior rubbish." Having heard Harry say this Luna couldn't help herself. The laughter started low in her body before coming out in great gasping bursts. Soon Luna had falling to the ground rolling around on her sides, clutching her stomach as the laughter poured forth. Harry look down on her with a nonplused expression on his face, if it were for any other reason than his misfortune than he probably would have welcome Luna's laughter, after all neither of them had much to smile about over the last year or so.

From her position on her back Luna looked up and saw Harry scowling at her. Composing herself, Luna sat back up, smoothing her skirt as she did so. Readjusting herself so that she was facing Harry, Luna reached out and grabbed one of his hands, and tried to catch his eye. Once she had eye contact Luna began to speak.

"Ginny had the biggest case of Harry Potter/Boy-Who-Lived hero worship that I ever heard of. I heard that some girl named Vine tried to use a love potion on you the same year you went out with Ginny and I. From what I understand Ginny had been doing the same thing, with her mother's blessing since our second year. When you and I went to Slughorn's party Ginny was beside herself, coming to me and telling me to 'stay away from _her_ wizard, if I knew what was good for me. She was fairly emphatic about this." Luna shrugged her shoulders, seeing the incredulous look that Harry had on his face when she finished speaking.

"You're of a noble family, rich and famous, whether you like your fame or not. Ginny is from a poor, impoverished family that if it had any claims to nobility are long gone. Molly has been filling Ginny head with stories of how she was going to meet and marry The-Boy-Who-Lived, there by rescuing her family from its sorry state since she was a young girl barely old enough to understand what Molly was saying. To be unkind to Molly, she's been brainwashing Ginny, like a long term and subtle _Imperious_ , since she was a young girl. I often wonder if the reason that Molly had me over to play with Ginny so much when we were younger was to make sure that I knew I was to stay away from Ginny's wizard i.e. you." Finishing this line of thought, Luna looked towards Harry, and seeing him seemingly lost in thought quietly went over her and her father's itinerary for this summer and if it was likely she could convince Harry to accompany them, given the look and Harry's face she would call 50/50 odds thus far.

Harry didn't know what to think, he didn't want to believe Luna's claims about Ginny but in hindsight so many things made sense when they were dating. Such as Ginny always making sure where ever they were spending time was filled with at least one or two other people, as to best show off their relationship. And even when he broke up with her at the end of his six year how she wasn't terribly surprised, almost took it as the next logical step in their relationship.

Now that he was thinking about it what was it she said when he told her he had to break up with her to track down Voldemort's Horicrux, something like 'I know you wouldn't be happy without doing what you could to take down Tom, that what I love about you." That wasn't him at all, he would be more than happy to let the ministry and the aurors, people who were trained for these types of situations, to deal with Voldemort and let him be a normal kid for once. Harry was horrified to realize that Luna's assessment of Ginny was spot on.

Ginny had wanted the relationship with the storybook hero, his actually choice were almost immaterially, as long as his action synced up with Ginny's belief as to what a hero would do she would happily let him do whatever he thought he needed to do without compliant. Ginny, Harry was sick to realize, like being known as the girlfriend of the hero, it didn't matter who he actually was as long as he fit Ginny internal check box of what 'The Boy Who Lived' should be like.

Thinking about how the last three years had gone for him relationship wise, Harry realize that the witch next to him was the only one to go out with him without a reason other than to just spend time with him. Cho went out with him in order to find closure with Cedric death and to try to understand why Cedric died and Harry was allowed to live. Ginny, it was becoming obvious, went out with him because of the fame attached with the whole 'Boy-Who-Lived' garbage and not to get to know him as a person. Only Luna seemed interested in him, just as Harry Potter, with no strings attached. Coming to a conclusion Harry squeezed Luna's hand and spoke.

"Luna Lovegood, I realize that you have no reason to believe me, but I love you more than any other witch and would be willing to beg you to take me back after the way I treated you last year. I can promise you that I will never stray from you ever again from this point on." Having said this, Harry waited with baited breath to hear Luna's response.

Luna stared at Harry with a slightly shocked look on her face, she had thought that she lost Harry to Ginny and that nothing would change that. Hearing Harry begging her to take him back made all of the visions she had for her future that came with Harry being her escort to Slughorn's party and how much better it could be.

When Harry had gotten together with Ginny without even the curtesy of pulling her to the side and telling her it wasn't working out, Luna had decided not to put herself out there anymore and to tell her dad that she would accept the contract with the Scamander family that he had been hinting about. Coming back to school and seeing Ginny take up with Dean while Harry, Hermione and Ron where out on a quest to Merlin knows where to save their world made her wonder if she had been a bit hasty, causing her to owl her father asking him to stop the betrothal proceedings, reminding him of their deal that she had till the end of her time at Hogwarts to find a suitable mate, her father wearily agreed. This exchange was one of the last things she did before the Death Eater's kidnaped her to use as leverage against her Father and what he had been writing in 'The Quibbler', making betrothals the farthest thing from both their minds for some time after that.

Luna had been curious, since she had been returned hale and hardy from the Death Eater's crutches what had become of Harry and Ginny's relationship. She and Harry had spent some time reconnecting at Bill Weasley's Shell Cottage after Harry had rescued her from the Death Eaters that were holding her as leverage on her father. It was there she learned that Harry had nobly broken up with Ginny after Dumbledore's funeral. When Harry had replied in the affirmative to whether he'd be getting back together with Ginny if he lived through his confrontation with You-Know-Who, Luna was crushed. Thinking about it now, Harry technically did die, so while he beat You-Know-Who he 'technically' didn't live through the whole thing. Deciding that this meant that Harry was hers again Luna leaned in and started snogging the soon to be named Man-Who-Won, they're reunion didn't last long.

For the last half an hour, Hermione Granger had been looking for her best friend Harry. This was logical on her part; the last time she had let Harry out of her sight he had wound up being carried in by Hagrid, dead. While she was grateful for Harry's return, she didn't understand what had happened and was wondering if she should get Harry to the Department of Mysteries to make sure he wasn't going to drop dead when he went to sleep that night. Her fear had made her break away from the still grieving Weasleys after a slightly disgruntled Ginny had come back to go and make sure her best friend was still alright; Merlin knows, Harry wouldn't get proper medical care even if he had blood spurting from an open wound. The girl who was thought of as 'The Smartest Hogwarts Student on Record', at least in her own mind was shocked to see the boy she was looking for and Luna Lovegood, walking around the corner hand in hand without a care in the world.

"What the bloody hell is going on here?!" In her supreme shock, Hermione used a phrase that her unofficial boyfriend was more known to use, upon seeing Harry and Luna acting like they were together. In her defense, Hermione had been completely taken in by Molly Weasley's explanation that she was in the process of getting a marriage contract together between Harry and Ginny, with Dumbledore being the signature for Harry, while she was at the Burrow the summer before her sixth year. Seeing Harry string Luna along was one of the reasons she was so cold to Harry during their sixth year, while she didn't like the blond; no one should have their emotions played with like that.

Harry and Luna came apart far slower than Hermione thought they should, the witch could have been mistaken from a tomato by the time the pair in front of her officially acknowledged her. Scowling a having what he felt was he life finally in his control interrupted Harry was the most polite when address his closest female friend.

"Is there something I can help you with Hermione?" Harry asked with ill-concealed impatience. Really he'd just gotten back together with Luna, and she had some interesting ideas as to how they could make up for lost time. Hermione, on the other hand, was horrified at how cruel Harry was behaving towards Ginny's feelings.

"What is wrong with you, Harry James Potter, how can you treat Ginny this way; after she waited a year for you to come back to her." Hermione was about to go on a rant when Harry cast _Silencio_ at her, momentarily shutting her up. Not even quelling under the glare that Hermione was sending him and Luna, Harry calmly explaining what had happened over the last two hour.

"Hermione, you have the wrong end of the stick, you really should be speaking to Ginny about this, given that she cheated first. I had been with Ginny earlier today, when Dean came upon us getting reacquainted in a broom closet and promptly hexed me. Apparently, Ginny had told him that we had broken up last year and gotten back together with him this year. Ginny tried to make it seem like Dean had _compelled_ her to get back together while I was away, something I don't believe.

"I've come to realize that Ginny was together with me to be with The-Boy-Who-Lived, not Harry James Potter normal wizard. Subsequently to that reveal, I tracked down Luna here and she agreed to give me another chance and we restarted our abortive relationship from last year. Why aren't you together with Ron, things seemed fairly heated the last time I was with the two of you?" Harry finished his explanation, gathering Luna up in his arms as they waited for Hermione's response.

Hermione didn't know what to think, she knew that, with the exception of Sirius being trapped at the Ministry in their fifth year, everything she'd initially doubted that Harry said, he turned out to be right about. However after spending so much time with the Weasley's she couldn't imagine Ginny being so cruel with someone's feelings. The moment she thought that thought, however, Hermione's memory reminded her of how Ginny had hopped from year to year with a new boyfriend; Neville in her third year, Michael Corner in her fourth and in her fifth Dean, than Harry. Hermione had to admit that Ginny's history didn't paint her in the most flattering light.

But Molly Weasley told her when they were together at Grimauld Place that Dumbledore was facilitating a marriage contract between the House of Weasley and the House of Potter for Harry and Ginny to be married. Believing this to be a trump card, Hermione decided to play it and see what happened.

"According to Molly there's a marriage contract between the House of Weasley and the House of Potter, Dumbledore was the witness to its signing." Hermione declared triumphantly, her world right again. Seeing Harry's frown, Hermione started to worry her bottom lip.

"Why in the name of Merlin would Sirius sign a contract like that, he and Mrs. Weasley could barely speak civilly to one another when we were it Grimauld?" Harry asked in confusion. Hermione rolled her eyes before responding.

"Sirius had nothing to do with the contract, it was between Mrs. Weasley and the Headmaster in his role as you guardian." To Hermione's surprise, but pleasure Harry seemed to relax and smile at this information. Unfortunately not for the reasons she thought she was.

"Oh, good you had me worried for a second." Turning to Luna, Harry said, "If your father doesn't object I'd love to come with the two of you if you're planning a summer trip." Luna was about to reply when Hermione butted in again.

"If you understand that you're to be married to Ginny than why are you planning a summer trip with Luna?!" Hermione nearly shrieked. Rolling his eyes, Harry realized that he'd have to explain things to Hermione.

"Whatever contract that Ginny or Molly say is between me and The House Weasley is invalid, if it even exists. So I can continue my relationship with Luna in peace." Harry explained, he was about to turn back to Luna when Hermione butted in again.

"What do you mean the contract is invalid? Mrs. Weasley and Dumbledore signed it and Dumbledore register it at both Gringotts and the Ministry." Hermione screeched.

Sighing, Luna took this question.

"A contract in the magical world is considered valid only if the party that sign it are either the Heads of their family; or the proper, legal magical guardians for the underage wizards that it represents, in the case of betrothal contracts. Since, with Arthur still being alive, the fact that Molly Weasley signed the contract makes if invalid." As Luna paused to take a breath, Harry picked up the explanation.

"Also with Sirius never being convicted of the crimes he was sent to Azkaban for, he was my legal guardian ever since that Halloween my parents died and I got my scar, making him the only person legally able to sign for betrothal contracts on my behalf." Harry finish, "Taken together, both of these things make whatever marriage contract; either between The House of Weasley and The House of Potter, or just between Ginevra Molly Weasley and Harry James Potter invalid as the legally correct signatures' weren't on the contract, thereby making it invalid." Harry finished.

Hermione stood before Harry and Luna with her mouth gaping open, she couldn't believe how she had over looked this. She had only gone after Ronald after learning of the contract between Harry and Ginny, not wanting to lose her relationship with Harry that had developed all this years, especially after the Tri-wizard Tournament. Hearing Harry and Luna tear apart the argument that she had based most of her personal relationship prospects on for the last three years was a shock to Hermione, she stumbled away from the couple asking for some time to get her head around this.

As Hermione walked down the corridor to the Great Hall, many thought were going thru the young witches head. The logic that Harry and Luna had used in their arguments, while unexpected, couldn't be discounted by the witch. Hermione decided to observer Molly and Ginny and see how they act before rushing to the witches defense anytime soon. As she turn a corner Hermione saw something that made her blood boil.

Ronald Weasley, her supposed boyfriend was going into a broom closet with his ex, Lavender Brown. Before Hermione knew what was happening her wand was in her hand.

Glaring at the closet that Ron and Lavender were in, Hermione decided that it wasn't worth it, she had more important things to worry about than a cheating potential boyfriend. Stepping into the Great Hall to say goodbye to Professor McGonagall, Hagrid and the Weasleys; Hermione was surprised to see Arthur dressing down Molly and Ginny. Seeing Mr. Weasley acting so out of character made Hermione consider Harry and Luna's explanation in a kinder light. Working out the logistic, Hermione decided that an Australian vacation would do her good and give her time to clear her head about boys and relationships.

Ginny Wealsey was frantically searching Hogwarts for 'The-Savior-of-the-Wizarding-World', Harry Potter. She couldn't believe that she had been so careless as to let Harry find her and Dean together. After Harry had a minute alone with Ginny after defeating Voldemort he had confessed that his hope in their future relationship and making sure she was safe was what drove him in his quest to round up and destroy Tom's Horcrux's. Ginny could've killed Ron for leaving Harry and Hermione alone for any time while on their quest, but it looked like it didn't have a negative effect on either relationship.

Dean had been so understanding about Harry 'dumping' her that Ginny had started to try to work out the logistics of being in a relationship with Harry after he had defeated Tom while keeping Dean on the side. Her canoodling with Harry was just her way of making sure she had both wizards at her beck and call. After all she got the money, prestige and 'right' family connections from Harry, while she had a wizard that knew what he was doing in bed with Dean it was the best of both worlds in Ginny's opinion.

Now that her relationship with Dean had come out, that wasn't viable. Once she calmed down Harry and tossed Dean to the side she'd have time to pick a new lover. It couldn't be Dean again, mores the pity, while he was a good shag it seemed he wanted a committed relationship, she couldn't give up the Potter fortune so she'd have to be on the lookout for someone more pliable for a future boy toy.

As she turned the corner, Ginny noticed with a scowl, Harry a Luna walking towards her hand in hand gazing into each other's eyes with a smile on their faces. That was supposed to be her, she was the witch that Harry was supposed to go weak in the knees at, not her oddball neighbor. Ginny had spent so much time keeping track of Hermione, believing the muggleborn to be her biggest rival in Harry's affections, that she never even considered Luna as the one to steal The-Boy-Who-Lived, now The-Man-Who-Conquered away from her even after they went to Professor Slughorn's party together last year. Honestly Ginny figured, with both Hermione being a bitch to Harry and her with Dean, that Harry taking Luna to the party was a combination of pity date and Harry choosing a non-fan girl to give him some breathing room. It would appear that was not the case. As the couple came closer, Luna looked up and saw Ginny.

"Ginny, isn't it wonderful, you're back together with Dean and I'm back together with Harry." Luna lowered her voice as if to impart a secret, causing Ginny to lean in. "Harry apparently has to go to Gringotts to deal with some sort of fallout from his quest to defeat You-Know-Who. He said that he was going to look into betrothal contracts while he was there, isn't that wonderful. I mean I've never been a gold-digger who was only with a wizard for their social standings, but all the same it's nice to know that Harry isn't with me just to try to avoid the gold digging, hero seekers, or just meaningless sex."

As if she just realized something, Luna comments "You were dating Harry at the end of last year weren't you? Oh, well it looks like it worked out for one of us, I guess it was just my time." With that Luna leaned forward and hugged Ginny, who had become somewhat dazed from the rapid fire manner that Luna had spoken, the blond then turned and walked off hand in hand with Harry, leaving Ginny to stand steaming behind them, too frustrated to curse them, even though she had gotten her wand out upon seeing the two walking towards her.

Hermione Granger didn't know what to do, for all of her life she had accepted the word of adults as gospel for the most part. There were a few adult that had been shown to be less than they seemed and their word to not be trusted but for the most part the "adult should be believed/obeyed" rule bore out, in Hermione's opinion.

When she had been told, the summer between fifth and sixth year that Harry and Ginny had a long standing betrothal contract between them, Hermione was crushed, she had planned to make a play for Harry that year, given that his attempt at a relationship with Cho had crashed and burned in a spectacular fashion earlier the year before. Decided that she needed Harry in her life more than anything else, Hermione decide to go for Ron as a way to keep her close to Harry.

After she really had time to think about it Hermione was quite angry at the fact that, in her mind, Harry had played with her feelings and strung her along for two years. Deciding that if that was how Harry thought of his relationship with Harry than she didn't need him either, leading to how horrible she treated him in their sixth year.

Now Harry was claiming to be in a relationship with Luna, and when Hermione had tried to explain that Harry and Ginny were betrothed to each other had that argument shot down quite succinctly by both Harry and Luna. If what Harry and Luna said were true than Hermione had been lied to by Ginny and Molly since the summer before her fourth year something that she found hard to believe. Deciding to get to the bottom of this Hermione set off to find Mrs. Weasley, sure that the women wouldn't lie to her about something this important. As Hermione got towards the doors of The Great Hall she heard something that shattered her.

Molly Weasley was sitting in The Great Hall next to Fred's body with a sorrowful look on her face. Although she was no longer crying, having in her mind no more tears left to cry, Molly didn't think she would ever be set right, having one of her children die before her. She'd told them that war was no place for children, but did any of them listen to her, no.

Her Freddie died and Harry died and then somehow came back to life. That wasn't fair, why did Harry get to come back but she had to lose her Freddie, Harry was only a halfblood after all. If anyone in the extended Weasley family should have died, it should have been that bitch Fleur. Yes the veela stayed with her son after Bill had gotten bit by an untransformed werewolf, but Bill as a former Head Boy could have done so much better that a French half-breed.

Molly was brought out of her dark thought by the sight of her daughter storming into The Great Hall a thunderous expression on her face. Molly started to get nervous the closer Ginny got to her, surely nothing more was going to happen to the Weasley's after the loss of Fred, didn't the give enough for the war against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. As Ginny got closer Molly called out to her.

"Ginny, what is it, what's wrong?" Molly questioned with a heavy heart, numerous thought going through her head making the Weasley matron start to panic slightly.

Ginny looked up with a smile on her face for the first time in the last hour, if anyone could fix this it would be her mum. Striding over to where her mum was, not even noticing Fred given how caught up she was with her own personal difficulties Ginny began to speak.

"Oh, mum, its horrible Harry just broke up with me and took up with Luna. Hermione told me that she caught them snogging in an alcove." Ginny complained, her lip quaking tremulously. Ignored was what Harry caught her doing with Dean an hour before that.

Molly was incensed, here was a boy that she took in and treated like one of her own and he treated her Ginny like this. She and Harry were going to have words. Molly quickly made sure that Ginny was going to watch over Fred before she got up to head off and confront Harry about how he was treating her Ginny. As she walked off, Molly didn't see the smug look on Ginny's face.

As Molly got within a meter of the door, they open up and let Hermione in. This puzzled Molly as she thought that Hermione was with Ronnie comforting him about all that he went through this past year. Clearly neither of her youngest children's choices were good enough for them, but she'd deal with Hermione after she dealt with Harry. As she tried to get around the girl, Hermione spoke.

"Mrs. Weasley, I've come to give you the curtesy of letting you know that I'm leaving to track down my parents and revert them back to what they were before I sent them away." Seeing Molly looking like she was going to speak, Hermione continued her speech. "I've also come to let you know that I have permanently broken up with Ronald and will hex him if he comes anywhere near me in the future.

I have to say that I am ashamed that a women I looked up to could raise her children to behave in such a despicable manner, and let you know that in the future I probably won't have anything to do with your family from this day forward. I am sorry about Fred, he and George were two of the better Weasley's as far as I can tell." With that Hermione took her leave of Molly with a small nod of her head, never taking either he eyes or her wand off of the Weasley matriarch as she backed out of the Great Hall.

As Ginny came up on her mum she was surprised to see the women stand stock still not moving or saying anything. Shocked that Hermione could even think to use spells against to members of such a light pureblood family it was to Ginny great surprise that when she used _Finite_ on her mum the older women quickly spun around and glared at her daughter. Opening her mouth Molly Weasley order her daughter to tell her what the bloody hell was going on. Ginny was so surprised to hear her mother swear that she did what she was bid without putting up any kind of fight.

As Molly listened to her daughter she couldn't believe how stupid Ginny could be. Molly had to control herself from hexing Ginny for letting the Potter and Black fortune slip through her fingers due to something as simple as hormones. When she started talking about the steps that Ginny need to take to get Harry back, it was then she learned about Harry hooking up with Luna again.

As she started to plan how to get Harry Potter back under Ginny's control so that the Weasley family could avail themselves of the Potter and Black fortune and pull themselves out of the straights that they found themselves her husband Arthur walked in on them. Molly immediately began to plead their case to him until he interrupted her and spoke to their daughter.

"Ginny did you lay with this boy, Dean Thomas, knowingly making it so that he would be the only one that you would be able to form a hand fasting bond with?" Seeing Ginny nod, Arthur wove his wand in an intricate pattern over Ginny's abdomen. Seeing Ginny's stomach start to glow a faint green both mother and daughter paled. With a stern visage on his face Arthur continued.

"I have already explained things to Dean and he has given me his agreement to doing the proper thing. Given what has happened recently the marriage won't go through as soon as I would like, but you and Dean will be married before people would start to talk." Looking at the similar looks on mother and daughter Arthur continued, "I'm sure your mother is looking forward to helping you plan your wedding. Due to the necessary quickness of it I would request the ceremony by of a small friends and family nature overseen by the local vicar. If you wish we can do the more lavish, newsworthy ceremony a few months after you've given birth to you child, George has offered to pay for whatever you want. Now if you'll excuse me I need to try to find Kingsley to see if, as a high ranking Ministry official, he'd be willing to preside over the ceremony. I'm sure he'll be willing after everything we've been through over the last few years." With this statement, Arthur spun on his heal and apparated away from his wife and daughter, the battle having brought down the wards that made if impossible to do so.

Epilogue:

After that, while things didn't go smoothly, they came to a satisfying conclusion for most involved. Harry and Luna got married a month after the anniversary of The Battle of Hogwarts. The press tried to get in but wards, created as part of a wedding present from Bill and Fleur, kept them out. Harry and Luna did allow a press release after they came back from their honeymoon. While the press, Rita Skeeter especially, was annoyed at having their story dictated at them, the deal that Harry and Luna had struck with the major magical newspapers of Europe kept things civilized and planet for the most part. The peoples of wizarding Europe were pleased to see that their hero was moving on with his life and planning a family, well most of the people anyways.

Ginny tried to get a job with the Hollyhead Harpies but the owner wouldn't even grant her an audition. After striking out with every other Quidditch team in the league, Ginny got a low paying job at the Daily Prophet working her way up from the copy room to report on the society page in under five years. Ginny spent most of those years honing her reporting skill under the tutelage of Rita Skeeter, when she wasn't granting 'favors' to her male co-workers to help her up the ranks quicker, something else that Rita help her learn the ropes for.

Dean ended up making a mint, going into business with Seamus, opening a line of muggle pubs fashioned after the muggle chain 'Hooters'. While Ginny didn't like the notoriety that came from being linked to such a seedy establishment, especially given that she waited tables and tended bar there in the lean years when the first pub opened, before she got hired by the Prophet, she came to enjoy the money it brought in. Ginny would have been less than pleased to learn that Harry and Luna, in an act of compassion, provided the startup capital to Dean and gained a 12.5% return on their ongoing investment, once the initial loan was payed back. The fact that Dean got along so well with her father made them visit The Burrow quite often, meaning that Ginny was forced to listen to her mother scold her on how her hormones lost them the Potter fortune many more times than Ginny would have liked.

While Harry and Luna could've rested on their laurels and supported themselves on the returns that their investment gained them, neither of them were that type of person. After going into Gringotts and explaining the situation at spear point, Harry got to see what happened when a goblin lied to the board of directors of Gringotts. We won't mention what exactly happened, let just say that it involved evisceration, and Harry vaults growing by the amount of one goblin's and leave it at that.

After the unpleasantness was dealt with, as the person that Griphook betrayed Gringotts insisted that Harry be a witness to Griphook's punishment, things went back on track for Harry. He and Luna finished their time at Hogwarts, occasionally assisting with the ongoing repairs to the school, after their schoolwork was finished of course.

To everyone's shock, Harry didn't take a job with the newly reconstructed Ministry or one on the many Quidditch teams that were vying for his attention, at least so it seemed. Harry and Luna both joined the Department of Mysteries as field operatives. To all intents and purposes it appeared that Harry and Luna were traveling all over the world 'discovering' unknown creatures and reporting on them. Under the Potter's stewardship, subscription of The Quibbler increased by a rate of five times what it was when Xenophilius ran it. In their defense, the Potters were better at getting photographical evidence of their new discoveries than when the paper was under Xeno's running. Their superiors at the DoM found it a grand joke, how the Potters were both keeping their covers secure and reporting about their missions out in the open, without breaking the agreements they signed upon being hired.

Hermione, even after what went on after the end of The Battle of Hogwarts, ended up marring Ron, believing that no one else would have her. They descended in a contemptuous relationship constantly fighting; mainly about Ron's willful ignorance of the muggle world as well as his anger that due to Hermione going back, along with Harry and Luna, to Hogwarts, she had a more important, better paying job than him, who was giving a low paying position at Weasley Wizarding Weazes, by his brother and Harry, out of pity.

For a while, Hermione would bring up Ron trying to complete his Hogswart education, but given that it inevitable led to a fight between the two, Hermione stop saying anything and would ask Harry and Luna for the occasional loan when things got tight. While Harry did help out Hermione (and Ron), what was once considered 'The Golden Trio' by many of their peers never came back together in any sort of meaningful way.

The first time that Ron and Ginny saw either Harry or Luna after the conclusion of The Battle of Hogwarts was at King's Cross Station where they gathered to send their children off to Hogwarts. Upon seeing Harry and Luna, both Ron and Ginny told their children to be sure to do better than the Potters at Hogwarts, ignoring the chastisement of their spouses. Hermione eyes followed Harry with longing a sadness. The Potter and the Weasleys never spoke, unless there were difficulties between their children at Hogwarts. But, that's another story.

 **El Fin**

 **A/N 2** **:** Please review, tell me what you think.


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